Chapter 11

Despite having that conversation with Mr. Elastic and barely making it out alive during the first exam, I somehow manage to make it through my first week at U.A.

And surviving that first week turned into surviving my first month at U.A.

It was kind of strange how classes blurred into one another. While the second half of the day nearly killed me with all the hero training, the first half wasn't bad. It probably helped that the entire school day started out with history. I really enjoyed learning history from Ape X, a hero who took the form of an oversized gorilla. As a hero, he only wore a tie and ripped cargo shorts which differed from what he wore in class. It was strange seeing him in a full suit, especially since the gorilla hero looked very uncomfortable in it. Despite how uncomfortable as he looked, he still made history fun.

Before class could even start, I started to look over my notes, scribbling whatever notes I forgot or tried to find easier ways to memorize things. Unlike Ollie, I couldn't teach myself by acting it out, but I could find ways to make the material easier to learn. It would be one thing if this was material we had already learned about in previous years; however, the gorilla hero made sure he concentrated on the material that no one ever seemed to want to teach about.

Learning about it made me eager to learn more.

This must have been how my classmates felt about the hero classes, which always left me sore. How they found joy in getting beat up, overusing their Quirk, or whatever it was Mr. Elastic decided to throw at us, I'd never know. At least that sort of training was left for the second half of the day, otherwise I would've found it harder to concentrate in my academic classes. Well, assuming I could even make it to those classes after nearly being thrown to the brink of death.

If things were reversed, well, I wouldn't have enjoyed history as much, knowing that I would have probably been distracted by the pain rather than eager to learn the new material.

Somehow, I'd find a way out of these classes, but not right away. I had to make it look like I was trying a little bit for my family.

"Here, five dorayaki, Orangie" Sakura mumbled as she threw the pancake-looking treats wrapped in clear wrappers on Kaito's desk.

I turned my head, seeing Kaito pulling those treats to the center of his desk, smiling up at Sakura. It was a vastly different expression than the one Sakura had as she crossed her arms and had her nose scrunched. She was clearly bitter about losing their bet.

It was a shock to say the least. I didn't think Sakura would have ever lost a bet, but Kaito proved the impossible. Apparently, Michi had a boyfriend who went to Seijin High. While it was somewhat far, they must've called each other everyday. Since Sakura and Kaito found out about it during the first week of school, Sakura owed him his five dorayaki, but she wasn't happy about it. She thought he rigged it somehow. Sakura even went as far to prove that by demanding Michi about her boyfriend and for her to call him for proof.

The boy sitting between us took his seat, causing me to look away from both Sakura and Kaito. True to Mr. Elastic's word, the placement test was just a way to get us to work harder. No matter what, we would stay in the same seats we were first assigned to. While I wasn't complaining about my current rank—as I wanted out of here—it was kind of sad that I sat far away from all my friends. Kaito was the closest one to me, but even then, there was someone sitting between us. Sakura was a lot further away from me than he was from me, sitting three seats ahead of me, and one seat over. Part of me worried how she would do so far away, but Yamamoto sat behind her while Daigo sat pretty close to her.

At least I could just worry about myself. If anything, it could be another excuse as to why I had eventually dropped out of U.A. without it making it look like I didn't want to be here in the first place.

"Take your seats. Class is about to start," Mr. Ape X announced as he walked into the room.

Everyone who wasn't already in their seats scurried to their seats. I was about ready to pull my textbook from my backpack when I heard something plop on my desk. I froze before I slowly turned my head to see a packaged dorayaki treat laying on top of my notes. For a moment, I forgot what I was even getting from my backpack. My mind was only set on one thing: the dorayaki.

There was only one person who had dorayaki that I knew of. To see if I was right, I leaned over my desk to look over at Kaito. While he was leaning over to grab his notebook, I noticed three dorayaki treats shoved to the corner of his desk while another one was opened and half eaten in the center of his desk.

If that wasn't enough to confirm my suspicions, when Kaito sat up, he noticed me staring at him. My eyes widened as we made eye-contact, causing him to smirk and wink at me. I could feel my face flush before I even had the chance to look back down, seeing my dull pencil laying on my notebook.

While I picked up a pencil with my left hand, I shoved the treat to the right side of my desk. I wasn't going to eat it during class because that would be rude. Even after that, I wasn't planning on eating it. I just wasn't going to tell Kaito that, not when he was just trying to be nice about something.

Why would he share a dorayaki treat with me when he won them from a bet? Was he just being friendly? Was that his plan all along, to share those treats with his friends? Or was it his way of rubbing into Sakura's face?

Instead of asking, I just looked up at our history teacher who stood in front of the classroom. His eyes were scanning the entire classroom, and as he looked around, I felt my stomach sink. By this time, he usually had a book in his hands that he'd start reading from. Instead, he held a clipboard in his hands.

"Normally, at this point, I would go over the next chapter in your textbooks; however, your last test scores suggest that you're struggling on the previous material," Mr. Ape X explained. "Well, most of you are struggling, seeing that 60% of you failed, and most who did pass barely did."

Many of my classmates visibly winced at his words. I even noticed Sakura ducking her head a bit. Of all things, that shouldn't have happened, not when I told her I'd help her study if she needed it. If she was in the majority, then I'd have to just have to figure some way to help her. She was smart like my brother; all she needed was an extra push.

Unless it came to math. In which case, she was the one helping me with my homework.

"This is why I am going to assign you all a research project over the material we had just learned," Mr. Ape X concluded.

Everyone moaned. Myself included. I slouched into my seat, feeling the aches and pains digging into my back. While I know this assignment would probably help my classmate's grade, it was going to lessen the amount of sleep I got at night. I could already tell because this was the only class that didn't have any homework assignments. All we had to do was study for tests. Having a research project on top of that was going to be tough.

"Don't worry, I have a bit of a twist on the matter," Mr. Ape X explained. "Instead of retelling America's history, I want you to research an American Hero."

My pencil dropped as I wondered how in the world that related to the last chapter we learned about. We were learning about Japan's history at this point. A quick brief history lesson on how Quirks worked was the first chapter. That was all we needed to know about American history. Besides, everyone did phenomenal on that quiz because it's a topic that was taught every year.

Looking around the classroom, no one seemed to question it. Instead, they all found it pretty interesting that they were going to do some research on heroes. At least, that's what I think they were thinking. All it took was for people to mention something about heroes, and you'd have the entire class's attention.

"Do we get to work with a partner?" someone asked.

Mr. Ap X nodded his head. "Yes, but only in pairs. And don't ask if you can choose because I will be assigning them, so I know both people are doing the work."

Daigo's hand shot in the air, but before he was called on, he had already blurted out his question. "What about the hero? Are you choosing them, or do we get to choose them? I'd love to do Mad Max, Canine Hero."

"No, I'll have a list that you and your partner can choose from. There are only ten heroes, so make sure you and your partner decide quickly as to which one you want," Mr. Ape X answered.

Unlike everyone else who blurted out questions, I noticed Yamamoto's hand rose in the air. This took everyone, especially our teacher, by surprise. Yamamoto didn't say a word as he waited to be called on. Everyone quieted down when our teacher gave him permission to talk.

"What are you expecting to be in this project?" Yamamoto asked. "Is it just a paper, or is there more to it?"

Mr. Ape X nodded his head. "Yes, I'll give everyone a separate rubric for their research paper. I expect both partners to work on it equally, and give a presentation next week in front of the entire class."

My eyes widened. A presentation in front of the class? I slouched in my chair as my arms wrapped around my stomach. Why couldn't I be the one to work on the paper, and whoever my partner was could worry about the presentation? It would be so much simpler.

More and more students started asking questions, but I drowned them out as I looked down at my notebook. We had to do research on an American hero. It still didn't sound right. I flipped through my notes, seeing them filled with Japanese history, Japanese heroes, until I got to one page about America.

On that page, there wasn't even much. Why were we doing research papers and presentations on an American hero? Something was off.

I looked up and took a deep breath. Was this some sort of test to see if we were listening or something? Should I say something about it? Everyone seemed to be spitting questions left and right that I wasn't even sure when I could ask, if I could even ask my question.

"Well, if that's everything, then let's get into your groups. Tami Smith," Mr. Ape X said, making me realize there was no use asking if he had already begun pairing us up. "You're going to be working with Kaito Oba."

My eyes widened when I heard his name being called. Out of all the people in our class, I wasn't expecting to be paired up with him. I leaned over my desk to see Kaito doing the same, so he could look at me. The orange haired boy beamed as he heard the news and gave me a thumbs up.

While I gave him a small smile, I looked up at Mr. Ape X, noticing both Sakura and Yamamoto looking back at me. Sakura had a huge smile on her face, not because we weren't being partnered up, but because I was going to be partnered up with someone good. The past few times I had to be partnered up with someone in our hero classes, it was alway someone who would beat the living daylights out of me. I think since she knew Kaito and I got along, she was happy that I wouldn't be as nervous for this project.

Her expression was vastly different than Yamamoto's though. He looked slightly disappointed as he looked at me and then to Kaito. If I had to guess, he was probably upset that he didn't get to work with his friend, Kaito. Sure, Yamamoto, Kaito, Sakura and I all sat next to each other at lunch, but he never seemed to talk to anyone besides Kaito, even then, it was rare.

"Sakura Sakai, you'll be working with Raiden Yamamoto," Mr. Ape X said as he continued pairing off students.

I looked over at the two, noticing how different they had responded to that. Raiden leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. It was no secret that Sakura's only strength outside of our hero classes was math. For some odd reason, she could remember how numbers worked with different variables and equations, but when it came to memorizing different facts, she struggled a bit.

There was no way Yamamoto was going to be getting much help in this project. While he looked disappointed, I noticed Sakura looking back at him, already talking to him, probably about the project. For her, things could've been a lot worse. I wasn't sure how Yamamoto did in his studies, but there was one thing I did know. That was the fact she wasn't working with Kaito.

I can only imagine the kind of grudge she was holding against him just because she lost the bet.

"Okay, for the next ten minutes, I want you to get with your partners and figure out which heroes you want to do your research on. Once you're done, I'll give you all your rubric, and we'll go on a special field trip tomorrow to the Musutafu City Library for research," our teacher explained.

Everyone got excited as they jumped out of their seats and ran to wherever their partner was at. Sakura and Yamamoto were the only ones that didn't move since they sat next to each other and were already ahead of the game.

"You didn't eat your dorayaki yet," I heard Kaito whine as he placed his hands on my desk and leaned in.

"Oh, uh, well, I-uh, I'm saving it," I lied. After a small pause, I added, "for lunch. What kind of heroes are there?"

Kaito shrugged, "Not many good ones, but I've already narrowed it down to three, no worries. Which one do you think we should do: Eagle Man, Captain Steel, or Justice-Core."

My eyes widened at the last name he had rambled off. Was this some sort of joke? I snapped my head to the front of the class, hoping for this to be some sort of joke. This had to be, right? I mean, why would his name be on the list of people we would have to do research on? It didn't make any sense.

That man never did anything good. I don't care how Mr. Elastic portrayed him. He did something unforgivable when he chose to be a hero rather than helping his wife. It was one thing to keep doing that and continue to support the family, but it was another when I completely abandoned my mother just so he could continue on.

The way anyone else painted him out to be was wrong.

"Justice-Core then?" Kaito asked as he stood up.

I shook my head back and forth as fast as I could. "Anyone but him. I-I'd rather research someone I don't know much about."

For a moment, Kaito stared at me in confusion until his eyes widened in realization. "You're from America! I forgot. Then we should do Justice-Core! It'll be so easy! I'll make sure I put our names down before anyone else."

My mouth opened to protest, but I was too late. Kaito ran to the front of the classroom where he started talking to our history teacher about it.

Why was it Kaito couldn't sit still for two minutes or at least listen to me? While I hoped I wouldn't have been partnered up with Yamamoto, I was already off to a rough start with Kaito as he took charge in this research paper. I glanced over at my friend, Sakura, and her partner, Yamamoto. They seemed to have been getting along pretty well as they were making a list of names and discussing a bit about each hero on the list to get the best one. It was much better than having Kaito just assume who we'd do our research on.

A sigh escaped my lips as I laid my head on my arms. I could just tell this project was going to take forever.

Author's Note:

Welcome back everyone! As you all may have noticed, there have been a couple of changes. Nothing in regards to the storyline, no worries, but there is now little banner above the Author's Note. This is something I've been wanting to implement since the last short break during the second arc, but I was having a bit of troubles with it. Why? Because each arc has their own banner based on the character highlighted in that arc.

Because of this, I've asked a lot of people for help. I want to give a quick shout out to fluff_writer_ , JustBluePanda, lazuriteoftheskies, and sun_jin as they all have helped me with some banner troubles. This is in regards to the next arc's banner, which will feature Sakura. If I didn't use something that was made, I'll still highlight it later on, but these four have helped out a lot and deserve a lot of credit for their hard work, so thank you all so much! It's very appreciated.

In the meantime, we've seen a couple of different classes offered at U.A. (Or, at least, we've seen a normal class and a hero class in action). For this week's question, I want to know, what is your favorite academic class?

Okay updates will be every week to every other week. Just depends on editing. Hope you all have a wonderful Easter!!

Character Spotlight: Ape XQuirk: Gorilla Likes: not wearing suits

Song: Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso OST: 03 - Shikai ga Akai! (From Your Lie In April)